The annual convention of the Diocese of Kansas has elected the Rev. Cathleen Chittenden Bascom as tenth bishop.
Bascom, assistant professor of religion at Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa, was added to the slate by petition. She led in both orders of ministry on the first ballot, and was elected on the second ballot.
Bascom, born in Denver, is a graduate of the University of Kansas and Exeter University. She earned an MDiv at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and a DMin in preaching from Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
The other nominees were the Rev. Martha N. Macgill, rector of Emmanuel Parish in Cumberland, Maryland, and the Rev. Helen Svoboda-Barber, rector of St. Luke’s Church in Durham, North Carolina.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
